Why the hell do hardbound books cost so much when compared with other forms of popular media? I, personally, have never bought a hardbound book that wasn’t required for a class or something, because I don’t like paying upwards of 25 bucks for something I might eventually get for half the price in paperback. Hell, everybody knows that CDs are overpriced at $16-18.
I realize that the quality of binding and the cost of all the raw materials is passed on to the consumer, but shit, with thousands of copies being printed, you’d expect some economy of scale.
Are author’s royalties generally higher than that of musicians or songwriters? I dunno.
Though it’s an example of price differences between various forms of the same work, which isn’t quite what I’m asking about, the following examples from Amazon kinda illustrate my point: the hardcover, paperback, DVD, VHS, cassette, and CD soundtrack of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Okay, fine, the audiobook costs more than the hardcover, but still…
With the advent of ebooks (online books) the whole pricing model breaks down completely. There’s no distribution costs, no production costs, nothing other than a little bandwidth cost. Prices of ebooks seem to be about what paperbacks are… but that’s a lot less than a hardback.
Here are my guesses why hardbacks are so expensive:
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It’s your first chance to read something new. Paperbacks aren’t released until long after the hardback has been in circulation.
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They last a lot longer than a paperback.
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Hi Opel
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They charge what the public is willing to pay. Enough people pay full price to make it worth it to them.
Lots of reasons. Cost of materials is part of it, as it printing technology. Hardcover books are made from acid-free paper these days, and there’s a lot more materials in a book than in a CD.
The sell-through rates (books are sold on consignment, and hardcovers get shipped back) are also a factor, but that affects CDs, etc., too. Books generally sell fewer copies than CDs, so you don’t get the same economies of scale, and shipping charges per book are going to be higher because they’re heavier. Also, probably a higher percentage of books flop than CDs, especially because you can’t really promote a book by doing live readings or signings the same way you can do live concerts.
Textbooks are a different matter. They’re expensive because they have a captive audience.
There is also a recognition that book prices ARE too high, but no one wants to take the first step (probably not allowing 100% returns).
It’s not paying the authors, that’s for sure.